Jan 22, 2011

With Valentine's day around the corner, these sweet desserts are perfect to enjoy with that special someone in your life, or any time of the year. Pavlovas are elegant yet light, made with whipped egg whites and sugar, then topped with cream and fresh fruit. The perfect light dessert!

Use any combination of fresh fruit on top, mixed berries are a great choice. You can make the shells ahead of time and store them in an air tight container, or even freeze them.

Meringues can be tricky to make, the key to success when making meringues is to start with clean, metal mixing bowls and whisks. They should be free of all traces of grease. Egg whites should be room temperature and they say it's best to avoid making these on a rainy day. I played around with a few different meringue recipes to get the perfect shell. So many, in fact that I forgot where I found this recipe to give the proper credit. These meringues have a tint of brown due to the dark vanilla extract I used, but if you use white vanilla extract, yours should come out looking like a soft billowy cloud.

Cover a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Draw 6 (4-inch) circles on paper, I used a plastic lid as my guide. Turn paper over; secure with masking tape.

Beat egg whites, cornstarch, and salt at high speed of a mixer until foamy. Slowly add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until thick and glossy. Add vanilla, beating well.

Divide egg white mixture evenly among the 6 drawn circles. Shape meringues into nests with 1-inch sides using the back of a spoon. Place meringues in oven. Immediately reduce oven temperature to 300°; bake 1 hour. Turn oven off; cool meringues in closed oven at least 4 hours or until completely dry. (Meringues are done when the surface is dry and meringues can be removed from paper without sticking to fingers.) Carefully remove meringue nests from paper.

Assemble the pavlovas by topping with 1/4 cup whipped cream in each nest, then arrange fresh fruit on top.

The meringue shells can be kept frozen for up to two months. Remove them from freezer before you assemble the pavlovas, no reheating required.

Can't wait to make this! My husband is allergic to dairy, so it's so nice to find desserts he can enjoy! When I ran this recipe through the recipe builder, I left out the fruit, since it is 0 points, and I came up with 4 pp a serving. The WW site has a flaw where if you put the fruit in, it will calculate them has having points. Anyways, Gina, you never cease to amaze me, and I'm slowly learning to cook thanks to you!

I honestly think there are times when you're a mind reader. I wanted chicken soup a while back and up pops the chicken and rice with mushrooms. Having a dinner party next Sat and thought I need to get on hunt for Pavlova. And first place I looked .. HA! Thanks, Gina.

Looks so pretty and yummy!! Is that plate part of a set? I've been on the hunt for new dinnerware and love that!

I have a kiwi tip from pastry school if you're interested. To remove the skin without having to peel it, cut both ends off of the kiwi, then slip the back of a spoon between the skin and flesh and run it all the way around the fruit. The skin will come right off and you'll have perfectly round kiwi when you slice it!

Oh Gina.... you know dessert is my weakness! and these look heavenly! I love strawberries and kiwi too. it's perfect! i already made cheesecake cups for this afternoon, darn! or I would have made these! can't wait to make these!!!

Hi all, so many comments since I last looked so I'll try to answer them all. First to clarify, you should count the fruit in a recipe, but I'll leave that up to you how you want to handle that, subtract one point without the fruit.

missfrecklehead LOVE the kiwi tip and I bought the plate at Home Goods last year. Love it.

Tracy, this recipe was perfect, I tried with powdered sugar and the results were bad.

I don't know if Splenda would work, you'll have to test it out but it would be an experiment.

Martha, that sounds lovely!

You fill the shells when you are ready to serve them. Not before.

Mary- I have not been able to figure that out, but a fat free vanilla pudding would work instead.

I have made these twice, the second time for a large group. They were quite a hit! My family can't get enough of these!Oh and the first time I made these, it was a very stormy day and it did make a difference. I didn't notice till I had made them a second time, but the centers were kinda chewy on the batch I made when it was raining. Either way though, they were amazing!!Thanks for the awesome recipe!

I grew up eating these in Milwaukee. We call them Shaum Torte. Most people haven't heard of them unless they're from Europe or Wisconsin. I make these once a month as a treat, just like my family used to do :) The ones they make at the bakeries back home (WI) are beautiful and white! I don't know how they do it.

This looks like a great dessert. But there is a difference between a meringue and a pavlova. This is a meringue recipe. A pavlova should have a soft centre and contains some kind of acid such as lemon juice or vinegar.

Hi Gina! I tried out this recipe 2 times today, the first time I used powdered sugar instead of granulated so I threw it out and made another batch using granulated sugar, and it did turn out thick and glossy but not as thick as yours looked, even after I put it in the oven for an hour, and waited 4 hours with the oven off, after I removed the tray from the oven they could not be lifted off without cracking, every single one crumbled and were really really hard, the crumbs did still taste good! But why did mine not work out? I followed the instructions perfectly.. Thank you